Metered Mail

When Does a Postage Meter Stamp Expire?

When does a postage meter stamp expire? See the answer to this and other important questions about using postage meters for business.

When does a postage meter stamp expire? Postage meter stamps expire the day after you print the stamp and shipping label.  Metered mail with a previous or future date gets classified as “stale.”  

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Every day, the U.S. Postal Service delivers 181.9 million pieces of mail.

When you're running a business, there are a lot of important things that you will be sending via mail. For the sake of your business, you'll want those parcels delivered in a timely manner and in a way that will save you money.

The best way to achieve this is to arm yourself with as much knowledge of the mail system and postage meter stamps as possible.  Luckily, you came to the right place. Keep reading to learn more!

What Are Postage Meter Stamps?

Postage meter stamps are stamps produced by postage printing machines for use in your place of work. Postage meter stamps allow you to save time by printing postage stamps for use on your parcels directly from home, rather than having to travel to a post office.

An advantage of using metered postage is that it does not require a postmark due to all of the information that the postmark presents already being on the meter strip. This gives you an efficient way to handle all of your business mailings.

Mailing Methods Using USPS Meters?

There is a wide variety of mail that you can send via USPS metered mail. Metered mail covers all of the following options:

  • First-Class Mail
  • First-Class Package Service – Retail
  • First-Class Package Service – Commercial
  • Priority Mail
  • Priority Mail Express
  • Media Mail
  • USPS Retail Ground
  • International Mail (especially useful for businesses that have overseas clients)
  • Presorted First-Class Mail Services
  • Presorted USPS Marketing Mail

For someone that is running a business, there is a lot of value that can be had through metered mail. The options are there for whatever you need to mail and wherever you need it mailed to.

Advantages of Metered Mail

A massive advantage that metered postage stamps can provide over conventional shipping methods is the savings. Using metered postage stamps can save your business up to $0.05 per item sent, which can add up pretty quickly.

Postage Meter

Using metered postage stamps can also increase accuracy, making sure that the items you want to be delivered are arriving on time and to the correct person.

37% of small businesses cite that the biggest hassle they encounter while running their business is finding time to drop off the things that they need to mail at the post office. Using metered mail eliminates this while saving you time, money, gas, and stress. COMPARE QUOTES ON POSTAGE METERS

Expiration Times For  Metered Mail

An important thing to know is that postage meter stamps do have an expiration. A piece of mail that has a postage date that has a previous or future date gets classified as being “stale.”

This means that metered mail must have the date updated every day, as USPS requires that the item have an accurate mailing date. Postage meter stamps expire the day after you print the stamp and shipping label.

One thing to keep in mind is if the postage is correct but the date is stale, USPS will let you run the item through again to get the correct postage date at no cost to yourself.

Take the Next Step

Now you're equipped with the knowledge that you need about how postage meter stamps can grow your business and help it run even more efficiently. Check out our list of top postage meters and compare prices for free.

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Author: Hudson Piccini

Hudson Cynar, a Harvard University alumna and the owner of three prosperous enterprises, is a distinguished business consultant, author, and writer. Her expertise spans multiple business sectors, with a particular emphasis on storage containers, commercial copiers, payroll services, and medical billing software. Dedicatedly investing thousands of hours into product and service research, Hudson crafts insightful reviews to guide entrepreneurs in making informed decisions for their businesses.